Duke Lee Movies

One of the greatest movie Westerns, John Ford's My Darling Clementine is hardly the most accurate film version of the Wyatt Earp legend, but it is still one of the most entertaining. Henry Fonda stars as former lawman Wyatt Earp, who, after cleaning up Dodge City, arrives in the outskirts of Tombstone with his brothers Morgan (Ward Bond), Virgil (Tim Holt), and James (Don Garner), planning to sell their cattle and settle down as gentlemen farmers. Yet Wyatt, disgusted by crime and cattle rustling, eventually agrees to take the marshalling job until he can gather enough evidence to bring to justice the scurrilous Clanton clan, headed by smooth-talking but shifty-eyed Old Man Clanton (Walter Brennan). Almost immediately, Wyatt runs afoul of consumptive, self-hating gambling boss Doc Holliday (Victor Mature, in perhaps his best performance). When Doc's erstwhile sweetheart, Clementine (Cathy Downs) comes to town, Earp is immediately smitten. However, Doc himself is now involved with saloon gal Chihauhua (Linda Darnell). The tensions among Wyatt, Doc, Clementine, and Chihauhua wax and wane throughout most of the film, leading to the legendary gunfight at the OK Corral, with Wyatt and Doc fighting side-by-side against the despicable Clantons. Its powerful storyline and full-blooded characterizations aside, My Darling Clementine is most entertaining during those little "humanizing" moments common to Ford's films, notably Wyatt's impromptu "balancing act" while seated on the porch of the Tombstone hotel, and Wyatt's and Clementine's dance on the occasion of the town's church-raising. Based on Stuart N. Lake's novel Wyatt Earp, Frontier Marshall (previously filmed twice by Fox), the screenplay is full of wonderful dialogue, the best of which is the brief, philosophical exchange about women between Earp and Mac the bartender (J. Farrell MacDonald). The movie also features crisp, evocative black-and-white photography by Joseph MacDonald. Producer (Daryl F. Zanuck) was displeased with Ford's original cut and the film went through several re-shoots and re-edits before its general release in November of 1946. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Although there were Westerns before it, Stagecoach quickly became a template for all movie Westerns to come. Director John Ford combined action, drama, humor, and a set of well-drawn characters in the story of a stagecoach set to leave Tonto, New Mexico for a distant settlement in Lordsburg, with a diverse set of passengers on board. Dallas (Claire Trevor) is a woman with a scandalous past who has been driven out of town by the high-minded ladies of the community. Lucy Mallory (Louise Platt) is the wife of a cavalry officer stationed in Lordsburg, and she's determined to be with him. Hatfield (John Carradine) is a smooth-talking cardsharp who claims to be along to "protect" Lucy, although he seems to have romantic intentions. Dr. Boone (Thomas Mitchell) is a self-styled philosopher, a drunkard, and a physician who's been stripped of his license. Mr. Peacock (Donald Meek) is a slightly nervous whiskey salesman (and, not surprisingly, Dr. Boone's new best friend). Gatewood (Berton Churchill) is a crooked banker who needs to get out of town. Buck (Andy Devine) is the hayseed stage driver, and Sheriff Wilcox (George Bancroft) is along to offer protection and keep an eye peeled for the Ringo Kid (John Wayne), a well-known outlaw who has just broken out of jail. While Wilcox does find Ringo, a principled man who gives himself up without a fight, the real danger lies farther down the trail, where a band of Apaches, led by Geronimo, could attack at any time. Stagecoach offers plenty of cowboys, Indians, shootouts, and chases, aided by Yakima Canutt's remarkable stunt work and Bert Glennon's majestic photography of Ford's beloved Monument Valley. It also offers a strong screenplay by Dudley Nichols with plenty of room for the cast to show its stuff. John Wayne's performance made him a star after years as a B-Western leading man, and Thomas Mitchell won an Oscar for what could have been just another comic relief role. Thousands of films have followed Stagecoach's path, but no has ever improved on its formula. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

The Republic Three Mesquiteers series western Santa Fe Stampede stars John Wayne as Stony Brooke, Ray "Crash" Corrigan as Tucson Smith, and Max Terhune as Lullaby Joslin. The plot finds our heroic trio butting heads and exchanging gunfire with a gang of crooked politicians. Head crook LeRoy Mason frames Wayne for the murder of William Farnum, but Big John proves his innocence with the help of his fellow mesquiteers. A startling moment occurs when two mischievous kids are killed in a runaway buckboard. As western historian Don Miller has observed, "Rough treatment of children was a near-taboo in westerns." In other words, Santa Fe Stampede isn't your usual run-of-the-mill Three Mesquiteers opus. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Warner Baxter plays Dr. Samuel Mudd, American history's most famous victim of circumstance. In 1865, Dr. Mudd, a known Confederate sympathizer, sets the broken leg of a mud-caked stranger who stumbles into his home. The injured man turns out to be John Wilkes Booth, and Mudd is accused of conspiring to murder President Lincoln. Sentenced to hang with the genuine conspirators, Mudd finds his sentence commuted to life imprisonment at the very last moment. He is shipped to Shark Island, a brutal penal colony. Subject to the cruelties of a guard (John Carradine) who hates Mudd because of his "complicity" in Lincoln's death, the doctor suffers the torments of the damned, while outside Shark Island his wife (Gloria Stuart) campaigns desperately to get her husband pardoned. During a Yellow Fever breakout on Shark Island, Dr. Mudd performs heroically to save the survivors. For his humanitarian efforts, Mudd is finally released and reunited with his wife. While the script glosses over the fact that Dr. Mudd had never been officially pardoned by the US government (the pardon wouldn't be granted until years after this film was made), Prisoner of Shark Island strives long and hard to exonerate the man for whom the phrase "your name is mud!" was coined. Dr. Samuel Mudd's story was retold in the 1952 feature Hellgate, with Sterling Hayden as a (fictional) doctor, and in the 1980 TV movie The Ordeal of Dr. Mudd, starring Dennis Weaver in the title role. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Will Rogers stars as Judge William "Billy" Priest, the common-sense Kentucky jurist created by humorist Irvin S. Cobb. The Judge's easygoing manner bothers many of the self-righteous good citizens of his small 19th-century hometown, imperiling his chances for re-election. The anecdotal plot boils down to a single storyline involving orphaned Anita Louise, reclusive David Landau (secretly Louise's father), and young attorney Tom Brown.The testimony that saves Landau from a murder charge is delivered by Civil War veteran H.B. Walthall, whose stirring loyalty to the Confederacy inspires everyone in town to organize an impromptu parade! Some of the best scenes are highlighted by Will Rogers' affectionate rapport with stereotyped black-actors Stepin Fetchit and Hattie McDaniel, though these scenes are frequently removed from TV showings of Judge Priest due to their undeniably racist overtones. If you haven't guessed by the first frame of the film that John Ford was the director, you'll recognize Ford's personal stamp the moment Will Rogers kneels by his wife's grave and carries on a warm conversation with his long-departed bride. Ford would remake (and improve upon) Judge Priest in 1953 as The Sun Shines Bright, with Charles Winninger as the judge. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Man of the Forest is based on a Zane Grey story, previously filmed in 1921 and 1926. The title character is two-fisted frontiersman Brett Dale, played by Randolph Scott. Dale gets wind of a plot to kidnap Alice Gaynor (Verna Hillie), the daughter of wealthy rancher Jim Gaynor (Harry Carey) and after numerous obstacles saves the girl from the villains' clutches. Chief heavy Clint Beasley is played by Noah Beery Sr., the epitome of double-dyed villainy. In the film's best scene, long-suffering Mrs. Beasley (Blanche Frederici) begs Clint not to go through with his lust-inspired abduction of Alice, reminding him "We've been married 20 years" -- whereupon Beasley growls "Wall, ya needn't count the last 19 of 'em!" ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Tom Mix makes like Hoot Gibson in the 1933 western Flaming Guns. Cast against type, Mix plays a cloddish sort who avoids using firearms whenever possible. When Ruth Hall's parents disapprove of her romance with Mix, the two lovers elope South of the Border. Flaming Guns was based on a story by Peter B. Kyne, who generally delivered more actionful fare than this. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Mechanic and aspiring pugilist Jack (William Collier, Jr.) trains to become a prizefighter after getting KO'd in a carnival bout, but gets tempted into committing adultery during his rise to fame, and eventually winds up right back where he started. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

From low-budget (and rather ill-named) Big 4 Film Corp. comes Headin' for Trouble, starring former silent cowboy Bob Custer and juvenile roping champion Andy Shuford. Custer is Cyclone Crosby, a cowboy who bravely interferes when town boss Butch Morgan Robert Walker) tries to force his unwanted attentions on innocent Mary Courtney (Betty Mack). Suspecting Morgan of being the leader of a gang of rustlers, Mary's father (Buck Connors) begs Cyclone to stick around, just in case. After setting a trap for Morgan and his gang, Cyclone is revealed to be a ranger in disguise, much to the delight of Mary and her hero-worshipping kid brother Bobbie (Shuford). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Easy-to-please rural audiences got two aging Western stars for the price of one with this low-budget silent oater directed by the ubiquitous Robert J. Horner. Art Acord stars as Johnny Douglas, a highwayman known as "the White Outlaw" because of his usual disguise of a white scarf and because he only steals from the greedy and the corrupt. But when double-crossed by nasty Jed Isbell (Lew Meehan), Johnny returns to his hometown and obtains a job as a ranch hand under an assumed name. The rancher, Colonel Holbrook (Howard Davies), is being squeezed by crooked gambler Chet Wagner (Dick Nores), who intends to marry his daughter Janice (Vivian May). The latter agrees to the proposal in order to save the ranch and a distraught Ted Williams (Bill Patton), who is in love with the girl, takes to robbing the stage wearing Johnny's trademark white scarf. The authorities naturally mistakes Ted for the outlaw, but Johnny not only saves the boy from a jail term but also manages to implicate the villainous Isbell. A family affair, The White Outlaw was penned by character actor Robert McKenzie, who also plays a comic pit part and whose wife, Eva, briefly appears as Douglas' mother. Playing the boss villain is one Dick Nores, a non-actor who was Acord's brother-in-law at the time. Al Hoxie appears as a sheriff courtesy of footage from an earlier Robert J. Horner oater. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

In his first Western after leaving Fox for poverty row company FBO, Tom Mix once again played a pony express rider rescuing the heroine Sharon Lynn from the ubiquitous runaway carriage. The girl's pa (Tom Lingham) is the survey chief for the telegraph company and in dire need of help. The company is being terrorized by Slade (Duke R. Lee) and his gang, but Mix manages to arrive with the cavalry just in time to prevent wholesale slaughter. The director of this and several other Mix films, Eugene Forde, was the star's brother-in-law. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Silent western hero Bob Custer, one of the more wooden cowboys to come down the pike, both produced and starred in The Terror of Bar X, a below-average western on all fronts. Snubbed by lovely Dorothy Hunter (Ruby Blaine), crooked gambling-hall proprietor Jim Ashland (Duke R. Lee) demands payback on an old loan. About to lose the ranch, crippled Ross Hunter (William Rhyno) turns to his daughter's sweetheart, handsome Bob Willis (Custer) for assistance. Willis borrows the money from a friend and is soon accused by Ashland of robbing the stage. He breaks out of jail to lead the posse in search of the real culprit, Ashland himself. The only spirited performance in this otherwise humdrum affair is that of leading lady Ruby Blaine, a former female wrestling champion. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Stunt-rider Jack Padjan starred as a Texas Ranger infiltrating a vicious gang of outlaws in this obscure low-budget Western written by, of all people, Hungarian director Paul Fejos.This writing assignment was apparently Fejos' introduction to Hollywood film-making; he later helmed the experimental The Lost Moment (1928), which won him a contract with Universal. Fejos, however, was too eccentric a talent for mass appeal and returned to Europe. Jack Padjan was not finding much success either and changed his name to Jack Duane. When good roles kept eluding him, Padjan retired to operate a stable in Northridge, California. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi